WATERLOO- A one-hour intervention designed to increase students' sense of belonging in college improved the academic achievement of black American students even eight months later, and may offer similar promise to minority groups in Canada.

The relatively simple intervention reduced the gap in grade point average between black and white American students by 90 per cent, says a new research study by Gregory Walton, a post-doctoral fellow in the University of Waterloo's psychology department. It could be used to help reduce academic shortfalls in Canada.

The study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is one of the first to test the effectiveness of a psychological intervention in reducing the racial achievement gap in students' real-world classroom performance.

Black American students have lagged behind white Americans on test scores and grades for decades. Closing this gap has long been a priority for educators and policy-makers. The new results suggest new directions for educators and policy-makers seeking to improve opportunities and achievement for ethnic minority students.

"Given the promise of the new results, an important question for researchers and educators is understanding how these processes play out in other settings, for example, among ethnic minority youth in Canada, among women in math and science, or at different age groups," says Walton, who is lead author and was a graduate student at Yale University when the study was conducted.

In the study, white and black American first-year college students were randomly assigned to the one-hour intervention group or to a control group.

In the intervention group, students were told that most students at their school worried at first about whether they belonged on campus, but that these worries lessened with time and that eventually almost all students felt they belonged. Control group students were exposed to irrelevant information about peers' social-political attitudes.

Compared with students in the control group, black students who received the one-hour intervention went on to study longer each night, to correspond with professors more, to sustain higher levels of motivation in the face of adversity and, over the longer term, to earn better grades.

"The intervention communicates to students that their experiences in college are normal -- that everyone has tough times in the first year of college," Walton says.

"People whose group is negatively stereotyped and underrepresented in school may wonder if they belong there -- if others will include them in quality relationships," he says. "The intervention conveyed that a negative event, like social rejection, doesn't necessarily mean that you don't belong. Hearing this message early in their studies helped minority students sustain high levels of motivation in the face of adversity."

Black students and members of other minority groups may view negative social events, like critical feedback from an instructor or social rejection from peers, as diagnostic of their lack of belonging.

Walton says the intervention helped students become more resilient to the stresses of college life by preventing them from "globalizing" the implications of a bad day into a general conclusion about their fitness for college.

"This research shows how the problem of the racial achievement gap may arise from interpersonal concerns -- about one's sense of being at home and belonging in school," says co-author Geoffrey Cohen, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

As well, notes Walton: "Even brief interventions that target psychological processes can have powerful effects on academic performance." This is encouraging news for students, parents, teachers and policy-makers.

Socio-economic Benefits Can be Obtained Without Naturalization

Princeton, N.J. - A new study has revealed surprising behavioral patterns of wealthy and well-educated immigrants in the United States. Greater achievement often does not lead to greater satisfaction with the U.S., or with the American lifestyle. The study is published in Social Science Quarterly.

Immigrants with high levels of education were found to be less satisfied in general with life in the U.S., perhaps, because of an awareness of the value of their skills and, therefore, a disappointment in expectations for life in America. Immigrants who owned property in the US, and those at the top socio-economic levels were less likely to aspire to citizenship than others.

The study also found that immigrants who intended to become citizens, but not to settle permanently in the U.S., were most likely to send large amounts of money home, while those who planned to stay sent much less. Immigrants intending to become naturalized were less likely to leave the country for extended amounts of time.

The results of this study point to a view of immigration greatly affected by globalization. As lead-author, Douglas S. Massey, notes, "the picture that emerges from this analysis is of a fluid and dynamic global market for human capital in which the bearers of skills, education and abilities seek to maximize earnings in the short term while retaining little commitment to any particular society or national labor market over the longer term."


Review Study

The economic situation of new immigrants to Canada showed no improvement after the turn of the millennium — despite the fact that they had much higher levels of education and many more were in the skilled immigrant class than a decade earlier, according to a new report.

The report examines the economic welfare of immigrant families, not just individuals. It assesses their economic situation since 2000, and the extent of "chronic" low income, and the impact of changes in education and skill classes on their economic well-being since 1993.

In 2002, low-income rates among immigrants during their first full year in Canada were 3.5 times higher than those of Canadian-born people. By 2004, they had edged down to 3.2 times higher.

These rates were higher than at any time during the 1990s, when they were around three times higher than rates for Canadian-born people.

The increase in low income was concentrated among immigrants who had just recently entered the country, that is, they had been here only one or two years. This suggests they had more problems adjusting over the short-term during the years since 2000.

One possible explanation may have been the downturn in the technology sector after 2000. The proportion of recent immigrants who were in occupations in information technology and engineering rose dramatically over the 1990s.

The report found that overall, the large increase in educational attainment of new immigrants, and the shift to the skilled class immigrant, had only a small impact on their likelihood of being in low income.

Note to readers

Data for this study came from a database that combines the Longitudinal Administrative Database (LAD) and the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB). The LAD is random, 20% sample of all taxfilers and their families. Individuals selected for the LAD are linked across years to create a longitudinal profile of each individual. The IMDB contains immigrant landing record and annual tax information for immigrants who have arrived since 1980. The LAD-IMDB allows comparisons of known immigrants and other Canadian taxfilers.

Outcomes for immigrants are ideally compared to those of the Canadian-born population. However, in the LAD-IMDB it is not possible to separate immigrants in Canada for more than 10 years from the Canadian born.

As a result, this study created a "comparison group" consisting of the Canadian-born, plus immigrants who had been in Canada for more than 10 years. Their economic outcomes typically more closely resemble those of the Canadian-born than is the case for more recent immigrants. The report compares results for recent immigrants to those of individuals in the comparison group of the same age.

The analyses include individuals aged 20 years and over for calculating cross-sectional low-income rates. In analyses of low-income (entry, exit, and chronic low-income rates), only those aged 25 to 54 at landing were included.

In this study, low income is defined as family income below 50% of median income of the total population, adjusted for family size. The low-income cutoff is $26,800 (in 2003 constant dollars) for a family of four.

In 1993, the selection system for immigrants was modified to attract more highly educated immigrants, as well as more in economic "skilled" classes.

As a result, among new immigrants aged 15 and older, the proportion with university degrees rose from 17% in 1992 to 45% in 2004. And the share in the economic skilled immigrant class increased from 29% to 51%.

Probability of entering and leaving a period of low income

The probability of entering a period of low income was very high for immigrants during their first year in Canada. It ranged from 34% to 46% depending upon their year of arrival.

However, if immigrants did not enter a period of low income during their first year, the likelihood of that happening fell substantially to 10% or less for subsequent years in Canada.

The result was that for immigrants who arrived during the early 1990s, about 65% entered low income at some time during their first 10 years in Canada. Of these, two-thirds did so during their first year.

If arriving immigrants escaped low income in their first full year, their chances of remaining out of low income were quite high.

For many, the first low-income spell was quite short. Between 34% and 41% exited after one year, depending on arrival cohorts. About one-third remained in their first period of low income after three years. However, even if they left a period of low income, it was possible they could re-enter at some later point.

The rapid increase throughout the 1990s in the share of arriving immigrants who were highly-educated and in the skilled economic class might have been expected to lower the chance of entering low-income, and increase the likelihood of leaving. This is because the more highly educated and "economic class" immigrants traditionally did better in the labour market.

However, the report shows that these changes had relatively little impact on entry and exit rates throughout the 1990s.

This was partly because there was only a small difference in low-income entry and exit patterns between immigrants who were more educated, and those with less education. Furthermore, by the early 2000s, immigrants in the skilled economic class were more likely to enter low income than their family-class counterparts.

For example, for the group that arrived in 2003, the probability of entering low income during the first year in Canada was about 2.3 percentage points lower than it would have been had the educational and class characteristics of the arriving immigrants not changed.

In contrast, the business cycle had a much bigger impact. The entry rate into low income fell by about 11.5 percentage points between the peak and the trough of the cycle.

Nearly a fifth of recent immigrants were in chronic low income

For the purposes of this report, "chronic" low income was defined as being in low income at least four of the first five years in Canada.

The report found that nearly one in five (18.5%) of recent immigrants who arrived between 1992 and 2000 were in low income at least four years during their first five years in Canada. This was more than twice the corresponding rate of around 8% among Canadian-born people.

For the group that arrived in 1993, the five-year chronic low-income rate was 20.5%. For those who arrived in 2000, it had declined to 16.2% as the economy improved.

There were two possible reasons for the decline: the more favorable labour market-related characteristics of immigrants entering in the late 1990s, and improving economic conditions (business cycle). The report found immigrant characteristics accounted for virtually none of the improvement; improving economic conditions accounted for the majority.

Overall, the large rise in educational attainment of entering immigrants and the shift to the skilled class immigrant had only a very small effect on poverty outcomes as measured by the probability of entry, exit and chronic rates.

This is because by the early 2000s, skilled class entering immigrants were actually more likely to enter low income and be in chronic low income than their family class counterparts.

In addition, the small advantage that the university educated entering immigrants had over, say, the high school educated in the early 1990s had largely disappeared by 2000, as the number of highly educated immigrants rose.

Changes in entering immigrant characteristics did alter the composition of the immigrants in chronic low income.

Among those who arrived in 2000, 52% of those in chronic low income were skilled economic immigrants. About 41% had university degrees, up from 13% in the 1993 cohort.

The literacy situation of Canada's francophones has improved since the mid-1990s. However, individuals with English as their mother tongue still did much better than their francophone counterparts in literacy tests in 2003, according to a new study of literacy among the nation's official language minorities.

The study analyzed data from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey, which tested more than 23,000 Canadians on their proficiency in four domains: prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. Proficiency was rated on the basis of levels one to five, that is, lowest to highest.

In all three provinces where people with French as their mother tongue are a minority (Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba) francophones scored lower on prose literacy tests than their anglophone counterparts. (Francophones in these three provinces, which account for almost 75% of the total francophone population outside Quebec, were oversampled in the survey to better understand their situation.)

Nationally, 42% of the adult population (16 to 65 years old) scored below Level 3 in prose literacy. Among anglophones nationally, the proportion was 39%, but among francophones, it was 56%. The gap was widest in New Brunswick.

Level 3 is the desired threshold for coping with the increasing skill demands of a knowledge society. People who score at the lowest levels, 1 and 2, would have difficulty reading or understanding difficult texts.

Note to readers

This release summarizes the findings of a monograph based on results of the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS), the Canadian component of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills study.

The IALSS built on its predecessor, the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), which was the world's first internationally comparative survey of adult literacy. Like the IALS, the IALSS conceptualized proficiency along a continuum that denoted how well adults use information to function in society and the economy.

The IALSS tested more than 23,000 Canadians, measuring their proficiency in four domains. Two of them, prose (continuous text such as the type found in books and newspaper articles) and document literacy (such as graphs, charts and other written information of a discontinuous nature), were defined and measured in the same manner as in the IALS survey.

The IALSS added two new domains. The first was numeracy, which expanded the quantitative measure of the IALS by adding mathematical concepts and, in some instances, removing the textual aspect of the measure. The second was problem-solving, or analytical reasoning.

In all four domains, Level 1 contains respondents displaying the lowest level of ability. Level 4/5 (or Level 4 for problem solving) contains those with the highest level of ability.

Literacy levels among francophones improved between 1994, the date of the previous literacy survey, and 2003. But this was due mainly to higher scores among the francophone population in Ontario. In New Brunswick, there was no statistically significant increase.

The study found that the lower results among francophones relative to anglophones in 2003 were largely the result of socio-historical and cultural factors.

Most of the gap in the literacy levels of the two language groups was due to a gap in levels of schooling, especially among older individuals. For this reason, there were few differences among individuals aged 16 to 24 in both language groups, but there were still significant problems.

The results also revealed an important phenomenon with respect to reading and writing habits. At the same levels of education and income, francophones were less likely than anglophones to have developed frequent reading and writing habits in their daily life.

Provincial variations: Gap widest in New Brunswick

The performance of the different language groups varied from one province to another. However, the gap between francophones and anglophones was particularly wide in New Brunswick.

There, two-thirds (66%) of francophones scored below Level 3 in prose literacy in 2003, compared with 51% of anglophones.

In Ontario, more than one-half (55%) of francophones scored below level 3, compared with 42% of anglophones. And in Manitoba, 53% of francophones did so, as opposed to 37% of anglophones.

Among the anglophone minority in Quebec, the study found a statistically significant increase in literacy scores between 1994 and 2003. In 2003, 43% of Quebec anglophones scored below level 3 in prose, compared with 55% of francophones.

The literacy situation of francophones has improved as a result of major social and political changes providing better access to education and compulsory school attendance to the age of 16. This does not mean, however, that problems of low literacy were non-existent among younger age groups.

Both in Quebec and outside Quebec, results show no significant gap between anglophones and francophones aged 16 to 24.

However, in both Ontario and New Brunswick, nearly 45% of the people in this age group scored below level 3 on the combined prose and document scale. This represents nearly 13,000 young people in New Brunswick and about 19,000 in Ontario.

In comparison, about one-third (34%) of anglo-Quebeckers in this age group were in this situation, which was comparable to the proportion among francophone Quebeckers.

The older the age group, the wider the gap between the two language groups, according to the study.

Importance of daily reading and writing practices

The study revealed an important phenomenon with respect to reading and writing habits. At the same education and income levels, francophones are less likely than anglophones to have developed frequent reading and writing habits in their daily life.

As a result, they are also less inclined to visit a library or bookstore or to have a large number of books in the household.

This finding is reflected in the lower literacy levels among francophones outside Quebec in comparison to their anglophone counterparts. It reflects possible cultural differences as much as economic differences, characterized notably by the fact that francophones do not place as much importance on reading and books as anglophones.

Both in Quebec and in the other provinces as a group, nearly one anglophone in two reported reading books at least once a week. Among francophones, the proportion was only 35%.

Reading was least widespread in New Brunswick, where just under one-third (33%) of francophones reported that they read a book at least once a week. Nearly 60% of francophones in New Brunswick reported that they never, or rarely, read a book.

Challenge for francophone minorities: literacy in French

The survey results indicate a challenge for francophone minorities outside Quebec and New Brunswick: literacy in French. Outside Quebec, two-thirds of francophones did the literacy test in English, compared with only 2% of their counterparts inside Quebec.

In New Brunswick, 35% of francophones took the test in English. However, 63% in Ontario did, and 85% in Manitoba. The large proportions in Ontario and Manitoba are indicative of a demographic reality faced by these communities.

Even though a large proportion of them stated that they had a very good or good ability to speak or read French, English was nevertheless their preferred language in the written word.

Among francophones outside Quebec who did the test in English, 61% stated that they spoke English most often at home.

Their performance on the test proved to be significantly higher than that of francophones for whom French was the language most often spoken at home. Just under half (48%) of francophones outside Quebec who did the test in English ranked at least at Level 3, compared to 38% of those who did the test in French. This is partly explained by the fact that better educated francophones live in urban areas where English is more prevalent in their everyday life.

Despite definite progress in the education of francophones, such a finding clearly points to the major challenge of developing and maintaining awareness of the written word in French for the survival of francophone communities in a minority situation.

Monday is International Migrants Day and it’s an ideal time for Canadians to recognize the contributions and sacrifices of the country’s migrant workers — especially women migrants, says a University of Guelph professor.

“There has been a growing dependence on migrant workers in Canada, especially in the agricultural sector,” said Guelph sociology professor Kerry Preibisch, who studies the experiences and working conditions of migrant farm workers. In 2003, she was part of a first-ever, comprehensive evaluation of the national Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program.

“Some of these workers are women who have migrated independently and who are the breadwinners of their households,” Preibisch said. They spend up to eight months a year in Canada, contributing millions to national and local economies, but they also face unique challenges and risks, she said.

“Up until now, women migrant workers have been largely invisible, both in terms of research and in public policy. This is something our country needs to start addressing. Many people are either unaware or choose to ignore the migrant community living in their midst.”

In another Canadian research first, Preibisch and her research team are examining the many complexities of migrant labour in rural communities and the role gender plays, focussing on groups of women from Mexico and the Caribbean. The study is part of the Rural Women Making Change Community-University Research Alliance based in Guelph. The $1-million national project, directed by Guelph Prof. Belinda Leach, is funded by the federal Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The Migrant Worker Project research team includes professors Leach and Luann Good Gingrich of York University, and graduate students Evelyn Encalada of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Andre Lyn of Carleton University.

The Canadian government issues close to 100,000 migrant worker permits each year, and about 20,000 of these workers are concentrated in agriculture, Preibisch said. Only about 3 per cent are women, which is part of the reason they have been neglected over the years.

“It is important that we focus on migrant women because they are the most vulnerable to human rights abuses, both as migrants and as females. They also face unique challenges,” Preibisch said.

Female migrant farm workers confront systemic barriers to adequate health care in rural Canada. Physically demanding work and exposure to pesticides make women particularly vulnerable to illness, but factors such as language barriers, restricted mobility, and limited service hours of health care facilities in rural areas all limit migrant women’s access to health care, she said.

“When we talk about the challenges facing migrant women, it’s also important to recognize the ways in which they are actively shaping their own destinies,” Preibisch said. “These women have made a decision to work abroad, separated for their children for up to eight months, year after year because they want to improve their lives, specifically those of their children. Most of the women are also supporting extended families back home, which is a tremendous responsibility.”

International Migrants Day is a good opportunity to draw attention to the subject, she added. The United Nations officially designated the day in 2000 was a way to express support and solidarity to migrant workers around the world.

“But International Migrants Day only lasts for 24 hours. We need to continue to focus on finding long-range solutions long after it’s over,” Preibisch said.

Almost $900,000 To Help Early Childhood Educators Work In Their Field

TORONTO - A McGuinty government investment of $871,000 is yielding results, with internationally trained early childhood educators getting the specific training they need to get jobs in their field, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle announced December 14, 2006.

"This program is the first of its kind in Ontario and breaks down barriers so the internationally trained can put their global experience to work in our province," said Colle. "The program graduates will help meet Ontario's labour needs for early childhood educators."

The Access to the Early Childhood Education Field in Ontario project is a partnership between the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office of Toronto for Social and Multicultural Development and George Brown College. The program includes language courses, mentorship, provides courses on how to practice in a Canadian setting, and practicums to gain experience working in the field.

This bridge training program will graduate 135 early childhood educators over three years. The first class of 32 started in September. Graduates are expected to enter the workforce after September 2007.

According to the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, Ontario is facing a shortage of over 100,000 early childhood education workers.

The program is part of the McGuinty government's investment of more than $34 million in more than 60 bridge training programs to help thousands of newcomers find work in more than 100 professions and trades.

This bridge training program is just one of the ways the McGuinty government's comprehensive plan, Breaking Down Barriers, for newcomers to successfully integrate into Ontario's economy. Other initiatives include: <<

- Negotiated the first-ever Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, which quadruples federal spending on language training and settlement services and brings an additional $920 million to assist Ontario newcomers over five years;

- Introduced Bill 124, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act which passed third reading and would help break down barriers facing newcomers seeking to work in their fields by mandating fair registration practices in regulated professions;

- Developed 'All About Ontario,' a new citizenship curriculum resource to be added to language and citizenship classes in early 2007 to help newcomers learn about Ontario's history, geography, their roles and responsibilities, and to promote civic participation - from voting to volunteering;

- Launched immigration web portal, www.OntarioImmigration.ca, which is designed to support newcomers both in Ontario and abroad, prior to arrival;

- Established the first Provincial Internship for the Internationally Trained. Administered by Career Bridge, newcomers with a minimum of three years international work experience will be placed for six- month paid assignments within the Ontario Public Service and Crown Agencies;

- Created a Foreign Trained Professionals Loans program of up to $5,000 per person to cover assessment, training and exam costs, in partnership with the Maytree Foundation; and,

- Total annual investment of $130 million, more than any other province in Canada, on programs to help newcomers upgrade their language skills, settle and find work. >>

"Newcomers want the chance to demonstrate their talents and skills," said Colle. "This program is one of more than 60 that gives them an opportunity to contribute and succeed."

Program Helps Internationally Trained Dietitians Work In Their Field Sooner

TORONTO - The McGuinty government has invested $596,000 to help internationally trained dietitians to get work in their field, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle announced December 11, 2006 at a graduation ceremony for the first 20 of 60 dietitians in the program.

"This investment breaks down barriers so that these professionals can put their global experience to work in Ontario," said Colle. "With Ontario's diverse population, dietitians who have been trained outside of Canada can help match the client's dietary needs to the foods of their culture."

The Internationally Educated Dietitians Pre-registration Program (IDPP) is the first program of its kind in Canada. Delivered by Ryerson University in partnership with the Dietitians of Canada, the program provides instruction on the Ontario healthcare environment, occupation-specific language training, and mentorship work placements. Program graduates receive temporary registration from the regulatory body before moving on to pursue licensure in their field.

The IDPP is expected to graduate more than 60 dietitians by next year. The program will also provide consultations and referrals for more than 370 internationally trained dieticians who are pursuing work in their field.

The program is part of the McGuinty government's investment of more than $34 million in more than 60 bridge training programs to help thousands of newcomers find work in more than 100 professions and trades.

Breaking Down Barriers for Newcomers

This $596,000 initiative is part of the McGuinty government's comprehensive plan to strengthen Ontario's economy by building on the global experience that newcomers bring. Others include:

<< - Negotiated the first-ever Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, which quadruples federal spending on language training and settlement services and brings an additional $920 million to assist Ontario newcomers over five years;

- Introduced Bill 124, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act which, if passed, would help break down barriers facing newcomers seeking to work in their fields by mandating fair registration practices in regulated professions;

- Developed 'All About Ontario,' a new citizenship curriculum resource to be added to language and citizenship classes in early 2007 to help newcomers learn about Ontario's history, geography, their roles and responsibilities, and to promote civic participation - from voting to volunteering;

- Launched immigration web portal, www.OntarioImmigration.ca, which is designed to support newcomers both in Ontario and abroad, prior to arrival;

- Established the first Provincial Internship for the Internationally Trained. Administered by Career Bridge, newcomers with a minimum of three years international work experience will be placed for six- month paid assignments within the Ontario Public Service and Crown Agencies;

- Created a Foreign Trained Professionals Loans program of up to $5,000 per person to cover assessment, training and exam costs, in partnership with the Maytree Foundation; and,

- Total annual investment of $130 million, more than any other province in Canada, on programs to help newcomers upgrade their language skills, settle and find work.

"Newcomers have the skills and desire that will help us meet our future labour needs and help Ontario to compete in the global marketplace," said Colle. "When newcomers succeed, Ontario succeeds."

TORONTO, - A new study, Demographic Changes in Canada and Their Impact on Public Education, maps the demographic challenges facing our public education system in communities and regions across the country. The study explores current and future trends and focuses on policy and planning challenges for federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions and school boards. Prepared by The Learning Partnership (TLP), a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to championing a strong public education system in Canada, the study is now available at www.thelearningpartnership.ca. Initial findings from this study were first announced by The Learning Partnership on September 28, 2006.

Initial findings from the research study conclude that the immigration rate to Canada will remain high for the next 15 years, and will continue to effect the school-age population; that the future Aboriginal population in Canada will continue to grow, outpacing the growth of the total and school-age populations; and that schools in remote rural areas will continue to face significant demographic challenges.

This research study is part of a major initiative on demographic change and education that also includes a series of pan-Canadian round-table discussions and a public discussion paper. The project has been initiated to raise awareness across the country that these issues are urgent in order to provide for a strong economic future for Canada and to foster social cohesion. It will enable communities across the country to examine the impact of major demographic changes on public education (K - 12), to identify promising practices and to develop strategic policy options for governments, education systems and communities.

The extent to which Canadians leave Canada for other countries, particularly the United States, was an issue through much of the 1990s. This study updates the patterns of exit of various groups of Canadians by using data for the 1982-to-2003 period, but goes further, and asks how many returned.

It concludes that the absolute number of people who leave the country remains small. Furthermore, this number has fallen in recent years, especially since the turn of the millennium. By 2003, departure rates had returned to their level of the early 1990s.

Overall, about 0.1% of the adult population leaves Canada in any given year, that is, 1 person out of every 1,000. During the period of this study, the annual rates ranged from a low of 0.045%, or 45 in every 100,000, to a high of 0.133%, or 133 in every 100,000.

In absolute numbers, these rates represented around 15,000 leavers in 1982, the first year of the study, and about the same number in 2003, the final year. They peaked at about 27,000 in 2000.

Departure rates have generally moved with the state of the economy, but not totally in synch.

Departures rose steadily through the first part of the 1990s, when the economy was stuck in a deep recession. They continued to do so through to 1997, even though the economy began to recover strongly in 1996. Departure rates stalled in 1999, then rose again in 2000.

From 2001 to 2003, departure rates have declined sharply, 45% among men and 31% among women, from their highs in 2000. In part, this may have been a response to the high-tech downturn in both Canada and the United States, and the fact that Canada's economic performance improved relative to that of the United States during this period.

In terms of age, departure rates were highest among young adults aged 25 to 34, and lower for older groups. This patterns makes sense, since the costs and benefits of moving, both economic and psychological, would point towards doing so earlier in life.

Francophone Quebecers had by far the lowest departure rates, while Anglophones Quebecers had the highest rates. Individuals living in larger cities were about twice as likely to leave as rural dwellers, and substantially more likely than those in smaller cities as well.

The higher the individual's income, the greater the probability of leaving. This was especially true at the very highest income levels, $100,000 and over. People at this income level were about six times more likely to leave than those with incomes of $60,000 or less.

Their overall numbers were small, however, since relatively few individuals have incomes at these levels and the vast majority of leavers were in the lower-income categories.

The study found strong immigrant effects. In a male immigrant's landing year, his chances of leaving the country were 10 times greater than those of a non-immigrant Canadian with similar characteristics. These rates actually rose over his early years in the country.

The rates began to decline 6 years following immigration to Canada, at which point they did so fairly sharply. However, even those who had been in Canada for as long as 16 years or more were twice as likely to leave the country in any given year as non-immigrants.

Only a minority of people who leave Canada ever return. During the entire period covered by this study, about 2.5% of those who left returned after being away one year. After five years, 15.1% of those who left Canada had subsequently returned.

However, these rates have risen in recent years (the same period over which exits have been declining), and are now close to double what they were in the early 1990s when they were at their lowest.

High-income individuals were more likely to return, as they were to leave, probably because they are generally more mobile. Recent immigrants were not only much more likely to leave Canada than others, but also less likely to come back.

WATERLOO -- Canada's most prominent area of German settlement -- Kitchener-Waterloo -- will host an unprecedented conference next month on the experiences of German-speaking immigrants around the world.

The conference, to be held at St. Paul's College on the University of Waterloo campus Aug. 24 to 27, is entitled Diaspora Experiences: German-Speaking Immigrants and their Descendants. It will showcase some 60 international experts giving public talks on German immigration in 27 countries and areas around the world.

Diaspora, a term commonly used to describe the socio-historical experience of the Jewish people, now has evolved into an analytical category for examining present-day patterns of immigration in broader terms.

"We will explore commonalities and differences experienced by German-speaking immigrants and their descendants when living in geographical and linguistic settings other than those of their own ethnic origin," said David John, director of the centre and a UW professor of German studies.

"A conference on this topic and of this dimension has never before been held," he said. "We want to break new ground and provide an agenda for the future."

The conference was organized by the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, which is affiliated with UW's Germanic and Slavic studies department. For more information on speakers and topics, visit link

The event will feature the following three keynote speakers giving overviews to the German diaspora in terms of history, linguistics and literature:

-- Hans Lemberg (Philipps Universität Marburg), "Reasons and Conditions of Population Transfer. Expulsion of Germans from East and Central Europe and their Integration in Germany and in Foreign Countries after World War II."

-- Janet Fuller (Southern Illinois University), "Language and Identity in the German Diaspora (and at Home)."

-- Hugo Hamilton (an author living in Dublin, Ireland), reading from his celebrated novel The Speckled People, a memoir of growing up in a mixed Irish-German-English culture.

John said that many local residents will find Hamilton's talk to be of interest as his experiences mirror their own. He will give his public presentation Aug. 25, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in MacKirdy Hall, St. Paul's College (admission $8, full conference registrants exempt).

"We are delighted to make this offering to the international academic community and to our fellow citizens of Kitchener-Waterloo," John said, adding that the centre's mandate is to study, encourage and support German heritage, language and modern German-Canadian relations.

The conference organizing committee, which John chairs, searched for the best possible speakers from around the world. Organizers sent out a call worldwide and received 139 expressions of interest, followed by 114 proposals that were then assessed anonymously by external experts. The proposals discussed aspects of the German diaspora in some 27 countries.

Built by German settlers and immigrants, Kitchener-Waterloo is a significant German heritage centre in Canada and is home to the greatest density of German-Canadians in the country. As a result, a large body of knowledge about German-Canadian culture and the German-speaking peoples exists in the area.

There is no doubt that the arrests of 17 suspected terrorists in Toronto would have some impact on Canadian public opinion. Such issues as Public Security, Immigration and Multiculturalism have been the object of considerable scrutiny over the past two weeks. In order to better understand the reaction of Canadians on policies in these areas the Association for Canadian Studies commissioned the firm Leger Marketing to ask questions about security, multiculturalism and immigration. In total 1 502 interviews were conducted across Canada of perons 18 years of age and over between June 13 and 18, 2006. The margin of error was ±2,5%, 19 times out of 20.

It is on the issue of immigration policy that the biggest backlash has occurred arising from the arrests of the suspected terrorists. Paradoxically the higher rates of dissatisfaction with immigration policy are outside the province in which the activities were taking place. Ontario is currently the only province where more residents are satisfied that they are dissatisfied with immigration policies. The rates of dissatisfaction are especially high in British Columbia followed by the province of Alberta .

Go to study

"UN chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday touted global migration as a boon to both host nations and countries of origin but said it needs to be managed to prevent abuses of migrants or xenophobic reactions from native populations," reports Agence France Press.

"In a report to the UN General Assembly, Annan argued that 'international migration, supported by the right policies, can be highly beneficial for the development both of the countries they come from and of those where they arrive.' He however warned in his 'early road map for this new era of mobility' that these benefits were contingent 'on the rights of the migrants themselves being respected and upheld.' ."

Xinhua (China) adds that ".people living outside their home countries numbered 191 million in 2005, with 115 million in developed countries. The report found that one-third of all current immigrants in the world have moved from one developing country to another, with about the same number from the developing world to the developed. In other words, 'South-South' migration is roughly equivalent to 'South-North,' the report states. But migration to countries designated as 'high-income' -- a category which includes some developing countries, such as South Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- has grown much faster than to the rest of the world, it observes. ."

The Associated Press notes that ". the document . comes three months before the 191-member General Assembly holds a two-day meeting on how to coordinate immigration policy worldwide. That event will be the first time that the main UN body considers the phenomenon of migration.

While many of its specific findings are not new, the document gave a rare broader look at migration and brought together facts from more than 100 earlier studies published since 1981. It is meant to spur UN member states into taking more action on immigration. The document offered proposals to reduce human trafficking, lower the cost of sending money back home and figure out new ways to entice their highly educated citizens to return home. ."

Reuters writes that ". migration has several positive benefits for both the host nation and the country of origin, according to the report. . Poor countries benefit by receiving an estimated $167 billion a year in remittances, up from $58 billion in 1995. Worldwide, money sent home by migrants totaled $232 billion in 2005, up from $102 billion in 1995. One third of global remittances went to just four countries, India, China, Mexico and France. ."

The New York Times adds that ". the report said that migration sometimes reduced the wages of low-skilled workers in advanced economies, but that it more often freed citizens to perform high-paying jobs. Listing demographic statistics that will make a continued rise in migration inevitable, the report said that in developed countries there is an average of 142 young entrants to the labor force for every 100 people about to retire, but that in 10 years, the ratio will be 87 young entrants for every 100 who leave the labor force. This trend, it argued, creates a deficit that only migrants can close. At the same time, developing countries will have 342 candidates for every 100 jobs that open up."

The BBC (UK) reports that ". Annan's report also highlighted the risk of 'brain drain.' An estimated 60 percent of the highly educated people of Guyana, Haiti and Jamaica now live abroad. The report proposes setting up a permanent forum on the issue so governments can compare their different policies. The report found that Europe hosted 34 percent of all migrants in 2005, North America 23 percent and Asia 28 percent, with 9 percent in Africa, 3 percent in Latin America and 3 percent in Oceania. ."